


The End of Time

by Takan_Morfin_Riddle_Lestrange



Series: The Story of Harry and Natasha [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Bittersweet Ending, Character Death, Grief/Mourning, Like seriously heavy angst, Marvel Cinematic Universe Compliant, Minor Bruce Banner/Natasha Romanov, but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-12-29 11:41:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21139763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Takan_Morfin_Riddle_Lestrange/pseuds/Takan_Morfin_Riddle_Lestrange
Summary: The story of Natasha, after losing her love.





	The End of Time

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a comment that Wika0304 left on part 1. Please read part one first, or this won't make too much sense outside of canon.

As the years pass, Natasha never forgets the man she loved. After the Battle of New York and its subsequent clean-up, she disappears for a month and no-one can find her. Fury doesn’t know the reason – he’d never managed to get anything out of the woman, and any searches through old files never revealed anything – but he does know that she disappears for roughly a month nearly every year.

Clint is the only person she knows that may have any idea about the reason behind her absence. He remembers the mysterious man that had been her lover, the man that he had watched Natasha kill and cradle in her arms as he took his last bloody breaths. 

When she returns, Fury takes one look at her and once again acquiesces to her silent demand for privacy. That she spent her time away in a little cottage in Wales is no-one’s business but her own.

After she turns up at his family farm, Clint just does a quick once over to make sure she’s alright before calling the kids over. The rest of the day is spent as a family, huddled together and watching movies. It is only after Laura has corralled the kids into bed and has headed up herself that he asks what she does when she disappears.

The silence that answers his question doesn’t surprise him.

* * *

The missions that she carries out with the Avengers settle something within her. She had lost her family as a child, her only real memory a hazy day in a snow-covered park and had lost the man she loved almost five years previous. A life spent alone was what she thought she had condemned herself to. The comradeship she develops with her (friends?) teammates surprises her greatly.

In turn, the feelings that Dr Bruce Banner sparks surprise her even more so.

The realisation that she is falling in love once again terrifies her, leading to her disappearance for almost two months. Clint calms the team, anticipating her reaction to her feelings. It was, after all, plain as day to everyone on the team except the two involved what was going on.

She returns as silently as she left, remaining tight-lipped over her destination and reason. The team eventually forgets about her absence and she begins to come to term with how she feels. Her connection to the Hulk grows and becomes obvious to the entire team, but her connection with the man remains stilted, despite her feelings.

The conflict within her heart grows as time goes by, obvious to only Clint, Fury and – surprisingly – Stark. She is silent more than normal, and the Hulk grows restless underneath Banner’s skin.

It is when Clint walks into her room and sees her staring at the plaited leather bracelet wrapped around her wrist that he brings up what she is feeling.

“You aren’t betraying Him, you know.”

Silence and tears greet him.

* * *

Missions pass quickly, bleeding from one into the other. More red is added to her ledger, but she has made her peace with this. Rather her ledger be drowning in blood than someone else’s. Her fate was decided long ago, and at least the people she’s killing are worse than her. From AIM operatives who seek to subjugate the world to just plain old terrorists; the world is definitely better off without them.

When SHIELD falls, her heart breaks. The team rally around each other, each affected in one way or another. Rogers, reeling from the loss of his purpose; Stark losing his father’s effort in helping the world; Banner, once again without someone to protect him from those who wish him harm. Her and Clint each feel betrayed in the worst way possible, having been rescued from their old profession and it being revealed that what they had done was essentially no different.

She eventually moves on, time spent at her love’s grave creating a peace within her. She also realises that she isn’t replacing Him – he is irreplaceable to her – but merely creating more room in her icy heart. She connects more with both the man and the monster, creating a bond which she thinks is unshakeable.

She flirts, making sure that it’s her flirting, and not one of her legend’s. Her heart grows slightly when Bruce – because he is Bruce to her now, and not Banner (not even the Hulk) – clumsily flirts back, stumbling over his words and blushing pink to the tips of his ears. She focuses on communication, not willing to make the same mistake once again.

It takes a few months, but she finally takes off the bracelet. She stares at its fraying edges, watching the silver charms hanging off it glint in the light of the setting sun. Moonlight highlights her silhouette as she closes her eyes and holds the bracelet to her mouth.

When dawn arrives, her wrist is bare of leather and a smile is upon her face.

She is finally happy.

* * *

Ultron.

In quick succession she loses her team, her friends and the man she loves.

When she pushes Bruce down the pit, she ignores the icy feeling that holds her breath captive. The terror that he won’t forgive her is compartmentalised and shoved to the back of her mind, needing to focus on the situation at hand.

After she watches Bruce fly off in a jet, her heart breaking once again, she dries her tears and hardens her heart.

Never again.

* * *

Clint retires soon after and she is left alone once again. Training a team who she doesn’t know or trust wears on her deeply. Rogers, now aware of her tendency to disappear for a time, doesn’t seek her out when she vanishes once again.

* * *

The wind tugs at her coat as she stands under the tree. The weather seems to have sensed her mood; the air cold and the sky cloudy. She places a new bouquet of red lilies on top of the gravestone and stares. She doesn’t try to speak, knowing that she would end up staying silent anyway.

The footsteps leading up behind her are immediately identifiable, never mind that she’d basically left an invitation.

Stark steps up beside her, gazing solemnly at the gravestone, immediately deducing her relation to its occupant. His hand in her own is unexpected, but welcome. He doesn’t demand an explanation, but she gives one anyway. It is halting, and her voice shakes as she reveals her story for the first time. Tony’s hand retains its steady grasp upon her own until her voice fades away once more.

They stand in silence, hand in hand, until the sky begins to darken. Tony squeezes her hand slightly, drawing her attention, before gently pulling her away from the graveyard. He doesn’t release his hold on her hand until they are sat together in his car. He drives her home and holds her as she cries.

When they next see each other, the day goes unmentioned.

* * *

The Accords don’t surprise her. She has known for a while that they need oversight; it is one of the things that she and Tony discuss during their late-night chats. Roger’s reluctance to sign also doesn’t surprise her; the man is as bull-headed as they come.

She watches as he tears her team in two – just because she doesn’t have a bond with them like she did with the original Avengers, doesn’t mean that she doesn’t care. She sees Tony wear himself into the ground trying to stop him, watches a fourteen-year-old boy put himself in harms way in order to do what he thinks is right, and knows that if she doesn’t do something, someone will end up in a body bag.

So she lets him go.

She didn’t think that she would lose her last friend, but Tony had always prided himself on being unpredictable. She doesn’t let him see how his comments stab at her already bruised and broken heart, even as she turns and walks away.

As she goes, she can’t help but think she will never be happy.

* * *

Being on the run wasn’t so bad, she did manage to patch things up with both Rogers and Wilson, though she would never trust them again; not like she had before. She learns to work with them enough to make a good, cohesive fighting unit, and even begins to forgive Rogers for what he had done.

Reuniting with Banner is awkward. Time away from the situation has not helped her feel any less hurt by what he had done, so she completely cuts over the slightest suggestion that they could ever be something. If his despondent look causes her to feel a ruthless satisfaction, then it is his own fault. The only man she loves has been buried in the earth for ten years.

It feels like she goes from being on the run from the United Nations to fighting a big purple alien bent on destroying half the universe in the blink of an eye. When they lose – because they never seem to do anything _but_ lose nowadays – she feels as though she has lost everything.

That the snap has taken Laura, Cooper, Lila and Nathaniel and, as a result, stolen away her best friend is something that shatters what remains of her heart.

The bracelet reappears on her wrist.

* * *

Finding Thanos becomes her priority. It doesn’t turn out to be a difficult endeavour but getting there seems to be an involved one. Journeying on a real-life spaceship should feel more exciting, but as she buckles in, all she can think about is regaining what she has lost. If, as everyone else is discussing reversing the Snap, her thoughts drift to the man who still holds her heart, then all it proves is that she is human. Getting the opportunity to fix the biggest mistake of her life is something that she has been dreaming of for years.

She idly trails her hand across the strands of leather plaited around her wrist. The bracelet, whilst still holding together, was showing significant signs of wear. She takes a moment to consider its exact age, calculating that it is 23 years old. She can still clearly picture the bedraggled teenage boy who had handed it to her, emerald eyes meeting silently.

Her fingers continue tracing the individual strands of leather as she contemplates what might await her if their plan works. She pictures herself with a family; the stereotypical husband and two children. He would come home from his boring job and she’d be there to greet him. They’d have dinner, and he’d tuck their two children into bed, singing them to sleep with that old welsh lullaby that she’d once heard him sing to himself. Her lips tilt upwards into a tiny smile, eyes alight with hope for the first time in years. She can’t help but whisper to herself.

“Soon.”

* * *

Discovering that the Infinity Stones have been destroyed is like a physical blow. She, like the rest of her companions, stays silent throughout the journey back to earth. She remembers the vision which had seemed so enticing not a day earlier. The picture of her love in her mind’s eye distorts from him tucking their children into bed, to her cradling him in her arms as he breathed his last.

She holds the vision tight in her heart and locks it away, shutting herself off from future hurt.

No more what-ifs.

* * *

She fills the next five years with fixing in others what she cannot fix within herself. She works on saving every person that she possibly can and obsesses over saving those that are already gone. She is determined to find a way to rescue the Snap victims without the stones.

She knows that her motivation in this is selfish, but she can’t bring herself to care. If she could bring back Laura and the kids, then Clint would come back. With all of the others moving on – even Tony, _especially_ Tony – she clings on to the only thing that she has left. Before the Avengers, her family consisted of one man who died in the same arms that had fatally injured him. The Avengers are all she has left now that everyone has moved on.

So she spends her days organising missions, holding press conferences, signing paperwork and generally playing nanny to a human-turned-alien, a talking racoon, an alien cyborg, a human-turned-machine hybrid and a former Wakandan General.

She eventually catches a sign of her best friends’ trail, throwing herself into the pursuit with a bullheadedness that the Red Room beat out of her decades previous. It takes Okoye suffering a serious wound for her to realise that she cannot spend her days running after Clint, she has people relying on her. So she settles back into her role of nanny and lets the mindless paperwork numb her brain.

* * *

One of the highlights of these five years is little Morgan H. Stark. The little girl is so precious, and so like her father. A certified genius such as runs in her family, Morgan is all too pleased to spend time with her Auntie Nat. The day after she was born, Tony had placed the little girl in her arms and told her her name.

She hadn’t cried such tears since that day in the graveyard.

She throws herself into caring for this gorgeous child with all her heart. She is there to teach the child languages, watch movies, watch her build an engine (that she manages it a year before Tony did makes him beam with pride) and to play pranks on her father.

It is thanks to Morgan H. Stark that she keeps on living, and not just surviving.

* * *

The reappearance of Scott Lang is the break that she has been waiting for. The collaboration with Banner is a necessary evil, and one she finds she no longer minds. She realises that she genuinely has no feelings towards him anymore, and if her step is just a tiny bit lighter afterwards, everyone just attributes it to the scientific breakthrough that they have made.

Convincing Tony to help is impossible, but she knew that going in. His love for Morgan consumes him and, were it not for her other godchildren, she would not contemplate putting herself in danger either. As it is, she is determined to bring her best friend home, and bringing his family back is the best way to achieve her goal.

Finally reuniting with Clint simultaneously heals and breaks her heart all at once. He is still her best friend, her brother in all but blood, but he is broken. Without his family he has turned into a shadow of himself, one who has become what he was before SHIELD all those years ago. When he agrees to come back, she is relieved and makes no effort at hiding it from him.

Sitting around and planning with her friends takes her back to seven years ago when they would goof around and laugh whilst planning missions. Her smile turns sad as she remembers those times, but it is as she is considering the old times that she realises.

The stones were on Earth.

* * *

Arriving on Vormir in a spaceship – _in the past!_ – with her best friend feels slightly surreal. They spend the journey just talking and joking around as old friends do; she just knows that this is going to work and that they’ll defeat Thanos once and for all.

It will work.

* * *

Dangling off the side of the cliff face, she can’t bring herself to feel scared, or sad; she feels at peace for the first time since she was twelve. Her friend is going to get his family back, which is the entire reason that she had started out on this quest in the first place.

She can feel the sweat forming between their hands as she tells him to let go. She knows that she is going to slip from his grasp if he doesn’t let go; somehow knows that this will be harder for him to accept than him just letting her fall.

She can almost hear the wind whisper to her, can almost make out the sound of His voice; it’s been so long, that she can’t be sure, but she thinks that it is. She knows, looking into Clint's eyes, that he won’t do it, not even now that he knows she won. So she does what she must.

She falls.

* * *

Natasha wakes to the sound of water lapping against stone. Her head feels fuzzy, but she remembers pushing off from the cliff, feeling the wind rush past her as she fell to the stone ground. She knows that she must be dead, but its an absent thought that flits through her mind quickly.

She takes a moment to listen to the waves before she opens her eyes. She is greeted with the sight of a sun setting over some mountains, the sky stained mottled orange and red with the setting sun. Sitting up, she looks down at herself, seeing skin unblemished in a way that it has not been for a decade.

The sound of footsteps in the water reaches her ears and she turns. The sight that greets her steals her breath away.

“Nat.”

He looks the same way he did all those years ago on that fateful day. His hair is tousled and windswept, whilst his eyes are the shining emerald that she always adored. Even the faded scar on his forehead that he never gave a straight answer about is there, peeking out from behind strands of black hair. She reaches out to touch him and feels almost startled at how solid he feels. His wry grin softens at her choked whisper.

“Harry.”

The man in question merely cups her face and kisses her forehead. The brief contact sends floods of warmth through her very being. In that split second it is hard to tell where Natasha ends, and Harry begins.

It is only as she opens her eyes that she realises that they have fallen closed. His warm smile makes him look at peace in a way which she has never seen from him. His shining eyes smile at her, even as he takes her hand and gently pulls her away.

She doesn’t know when they stop walking through water, but she can’t help but smile at the now snow-covered ground. As she gazes towards the dying light of the sun, she has to ask.

“Where are we going?”

He turns to look at her and smiles.

“Home.”

* * *

> _"And then, when you come this way alone,_
> 
> _I'll greet you with a smile and a 'Welcome Home'."_

**Author's Note:**

> And so we get an even more bittersweet ending than in part 1. I seem incapable of writing fics with a happy ending but oh well. This should be the end of this story, there's not much left to tell now. Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
